


This Haus is a Home

by frogy



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Drinking, F/M, M/M, Party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-06
Updated: 2014-12-06
Packaged: 2018-02-28 07:46:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2724374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frogy/pseuds/frogy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack hates the Haus rooms party. He entrusts his room to the frogs, so he can wander about instead. Jack winds up in Bitty's room, where he keeps stealing cookies, in the way boys steal things when they're flirting by being jerks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Haus is a Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NiceCoasters](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NiceCoasters/gifts).



> I hope you enjoy.
> 
> I decided to write about a rooms party because they were my favorite in college, totally ignoring that it means all your characters stuck in their own rooms, not interacting at all. (Fail.) It all sort of careened wildly about from there.
> 
> Un-beta'd.
> 
> I'm pretty sure the title is a bastardization of some song lyrics, but I couldn't track down from what song.

"So there's water and beer," Jack says, pointing to the two self-explanatory stacks of water bottles and cases of Natty Light. "If people look like they are too drunk, give them water, even if they ask for beer."

"Okay," Dex says, tipping back on Jack's desk chair to balance on two legs.

"And I've got trash, and recycling," Jack says, pointing to the bins he repurposed from the basement.

"Chill, we've got this," Nursey says from Jack's armchair. Dex and Nursey never agree on anything, so if they say they have this, Jack's probably being overbearing. But he hates the annual Haus rooms party. If it weren't Shitty's favorite party of the year or if he liked Shitty a little less, he'd try to end this tradition. It was fine when he didn't live in the haus and he was traipsing through other people's rooms. But he doesn't like having to open his room to the party. 

It's only his for another two months. Which is where the frogs come in. He's going to go try and enjoy the party this year in other people's rooms. Maybe he can distract himself from that first fact.

He looks around again. He's got his laptop packed away in his desk instead of sitting on top. Everything else is put away because he just keeps his space neat. "Don't let anyone take anything, no matter how much of a fan of mine they say they are. Or a fan of my dad's. Especially if they are a fan of my dad's."

"Is that a problem for you?" Chowder asks from where he's kicked off his shoes and is lounging on Jack's bed.

"Unfortunately."

"Man, that's messed up," Nursey says.

"Yeah," Jack says.

"Beer, water, don't let anyone take anything," Dex lists off. "We've got it."

"Okay," Jack looks around and thinks about his instructions. He's not forgetting anything obvious. But all three of them look too comfortable in here, like they're trying the room on for size, already plotting their adventures in here next year. Chowders even making himself comfortable in Jack's bed. Which probably means nothing. Chowder will fall asleep pretty much anywhere. If Jack has to kick him out later, it would one of the least ill advised places they've found him asleep in the haus. But Jack isn't taking any chances. He lets out a sigh and says it anyway. "And no sex in my bed."

That gets Chowder sitting up bolt-right, tripping over himself to reassure Jack that he would never. Dex agrees right away too, looking horrified that Jack would even worry about it.

"Chill," Nursey says, presumably in tacit agreement, but Jack isn't leaving without everyone's acknowledgement so he just keeps glaring at Nursey instead. Nursey breaks first, rolling his eyes. "Aye, aye, Captain."

Jack guesses this his room's in as good hands as it will get. The early comers are starting to trickle in, other guys from the team and a bunch of the party regulars popping in to grab a beer. 

He leaves his room and pretty much immediately gets stopped in the hall and sucked into general party small talk.

Jack's not sure this is a good place to be standing. He's in the path of new people coming in and he gets caught up in conversations as waves of people come in and say hello. Eventually, Jack's makes his way down to the end of the now crowded hallway. He vaguely thinks about heading up to say hey to Ransom and Holster. They've got a sign on the door at the bottom of the stairs promising Black and Tans to anyone who comes up. But Jack never quite makes it there.

(If he had, he'd find their room full of like twenty chicks, at least half of them attracted to Holster.)

Instead, he sticks his head into Shitty's room. No one is wearing pants. "Where's everyone pants?" Jack asks. Shitty pretty much never wears pants, but that's different. They have guests. He thought that would be reason enough to put on clothing.

"Jack! Brah!" Shitty crows. "Take off your pants and come on in." 

Jack waits for an explanation. When it comes he almost wishes it hadn't. "My room, my rules, and I've declared this kingdom a pantsless land."

Apparently that argument's worked on a lot of people. Or they just want whatever drinks Shitty's serving badly enough to go along with it anyway. But Shitty takes pleasure in showing up in Jack's room to hassle him, so Jack's absolutely not going to recognize Shitty's right to sovereign rule in here. He keeps his pants on and walks in.

Shitty gives him a look and when Jack doesn't back down, he concedes. "Fine, I guess I'll give you special exemption."

There are bottles of Mad Dog lining most of the flat surfaces in the room, arranged in some sort of abstract color swirls that reflect the desk lamp light almost like stained glass, which can only mean one thing. "Hey Lardo," Jack says before he spots her.

"Hey Jack," she says popping up from the far side of a stack table she's building a solo cup tower on. "You're wearing pants?" Lardo's not. Jack just shrugs. "You want a drink? We've got red, blue and green."

"Those are flavors, not colors," Jack points out. "But no thanks, I'm good."

"Fine killjoy," Lardo says. "Sit down, stay a while."

So Jack does. He hangs out with Shitty and Lardo until the general level in the room tips over from drunkenness to shit-faced, and Jack makes his excuses about making the rounds.

He's halfway down to the kitchen, to look for Bittle and a moment of quiet escape, before he realizes that Eric's not going to be down there. He turns around, backtracking to Eric's room.

"Hey," Jack says, leaning against the doorway to Bittle's room.

"Jack!" Eric says. He's clearly had a couple of the drinks he's mixing up, though he's no where as bad as the crowd in Shitty's room. He takes hosting duties far too seriously for that. But his face is flushed and Jack finds the the too-wide grin on Eric's face inviting. "Aren't you supposed to be manning your room?"

"It's occurred to the frogs that they don't know where they are living next year."

"All of them?" Eric asks, eyes wide in disbelief.

"I don't think that's occurred to them yet," Jack says, smirking. He certainly isn't going to clue them in when it means three times the people willing to do shit for him.

"Who are you going to give dibs to?"

Jack shrugs. "Dunno," he says. "I'm not going to be living here so it doesn't matter to me. Who do you want to live there?" He doesn't like to think about not living here next year.

"Oh no," Bitty says, eyes narrowing. He waves a scolding finger at Jack. "You are not putting that Sophie's choice on me."

Jack lets out a snort of laughter. "Fine, don't admit that Chowder's your favorite." When Bitty shoots Jack a dirty look at that, Jack holds his hands up in surrender.

Eric must accepts it, because his next words are "well if you're not busy, come in and stay a while." Jack steps around the makeshift bar set up on a card table in the middle of the room to sit down next to Bittle on his bed.

Eric pre-made a zillion tiny gingerbread house's to go with the apple pie martinis he's serving up, even if he grumbled while making them about the red solo cups ruining the presentation. He offers Jack one without a drink, and Jack pops the whole thing in his mouth in one bite. It's crunchy and sweet and just as perfect as everything else that Eric makes.

Jack says as much, and Eric gives him another one, with the warning "that's it, I need the rest for drinks."

With a challenge like that, it's like Bittle practically invited Jack to filch another every time he turns his back on Jack. It takes a couple of times for Bittle to catch him at it. When he does, Jack with a mouth full of cookie, he shoves at Jack in retaliation with an admonition to "stop it." Any effect of the words or the shove are ruined by Eric's barely contained laughter and the way the shoving settles them closer together on Eric's bed.

They're mock-fighting when Lardo shows up, interrupting with a "hello."

Jack looks up at her. Instead of a greeting, he says "you found pants."

Eric looks back and forth between them, before choosing to ignore Jack's statement. Jack realizes he's missed the kingdom of Shitty being in here all night. Instead, Bittle says "hey. I figured you were hanging out in Shitty's room." It's a fair guess. Sometimes it's like she practically lives there. 

"As much as I love Shitty and Mad Dog, I've been hearing about how good your drinks are all night." She pauses, looking at Jack. He's not sure why. He's just sitting here, although maybe it has something to do with how close he's sitting to Eric. Lardo echos that thought when she says "And cuddly Jack is adorable."

At that Eric gets to work making her a drink. Jack likes Lardo enough not to steal her gingerbread topper, so it's quick work before Eric hands it over.

Lardo takes a sip and moans "this is sooo good." She holds her cup out towards Jack. "You haven't had one yet, right. You've got to try it." And well, Bittle's apple pie is his favorite and he's not going to get drunk from one sip. If he really didn't want it, Lardo wouldn't push, but well, he is curious. So he takes a sip.

Lardo's right. It's good (like Bitty would ever serve anything that wasn't). The apple pie and the company has more to do with how it warms Jack to the core, makes him feel happy and safe than the alcohol does. He hands Lardo back her drink.

"You should put Shitty out of his misery and let him know," Jack says, still thinking about what she said when she came in. If she can say it so casually here, he doesn't know why she hasn't said anything to Shitty. "He's pining away for you." Even as he the words come out of his mouth, he realizes he probably shouldn't be saying this. Their relationship is none of his business (when it's not keeping him up at night. Shitty wasn't particularly sympathetic when Jack mentioned they were too damn loud, crowing out his awesome sexual prowess, but they've been better about keeping it down since then).

"You can't be pining for someone you're with," Lardo says. None of his business or not, that's just wrong. He's pining right now.

"He's like, so in love with you," Jack says.

Lardo's response is quick and sharp, "Oh, like you're one to talk."

"Huh?"

But she doesn't give him time to puzzle out the question, before continuing "you and Bitty are so gone on each other." She spits it like an accusation.

"Hey, leave me out of this," Bittle says, tuning back in. He's red in the face, and this time Jack suspects horrified embarrassment, rather than the drinks they've been having. Jack's pretty sure he's just as bad. 

"Shit, sorry Bits," Lardo says, apologetic that Bitty got stuck in the crossfire of this not even a fight that she and Jack are having. "I'll go be drunk somewhere else."

"That sounds like a good idea." Bittle slides out from under Jack's arm, standing to show her to the still-open door. There are people milling about in the hallway, party proceeding drunkenly apace outside of the bubble of his room. 

"I'd say good luck," Lardo says quietly to Eric as she leaves, "but you don't need it."

"Goodbye Lardo," Eric says, ignoring her comment, and closing his door firmly behind him. "The party in this room is officially over."

"I'll go," Jack says, making to get up. He stops when Eric speaks.

"You can stay," Eric says. He's standing up straight, pulling himself up to his full height, so that from where Jack is sitting he has to look up to see Eric. Eric is carefully not looking back, eyes focused on the space above Jack's head, as he bites his lip considering. Eric might not be looking at him, but Jack can't look away, wouldn't want to. Eric releases his lip and says "if what Lardo said is true, you can stay."

"Yea." Jack's word is less of an answer than the way he settles back down on Bitty's bed.

"Oh," Eric says, finally looking down, looking at Jack. "That's- oh."

"Come back here."

Eric walks back to where Jack is sitting on his bed. He sits down again, but it's not the loose, easy sprawl they had earlier. Eric is sitting on the very edge of the mattress, holding himself still, and that won't do.

"I thought I said come here," Jack says, putting his arm around Eric, pulling Eric back in again. Jack doesn't really stop to think. If he thinks about it, he's going to mess this up, and he doesn't want that. Jack brings his hand to Eric's face, long fingers sliding agains the shaved sides of Eric's short hair. The way Eric blushes is even more entrancing up close, freckles that even after all this time of knowing Eric, Jack had never noticed. Eric shivers. They are at a precipice and Jack is ready to fall.

Jack kisses him.

Jack sweeps his tongue along Eric's bottom lip, and Eric leans in, opens up to Jack. Eric tastes like apple pie and gingerbread, like the drinks he's been serving all night, but Jack thinks he must always be this sweet. 

Eric's proves himself less sweet than Jack would have thought in other ways, chasing Jack's tongue back into his mouth, making the kiss deeper, faster. Jack's suspicious of things that come to fast, too easily, but there's no way to misinterpreted the way Eric is kissing him now. His hands are digging in to the muscles at Jack's shoulders, twisting toward Jack, kissing Jack, open mouthed, deep and wet and a little sloppy. Jack has a fleeting thought, wonders how much of this is new territory for Eric before Eric must decide he's had enough of how awkward this position is, and does something about it, moving so he's straddling Jack's thighs, settling back down on top of him before Jack's even realized he's moving.

"Better?" Eric says, rolling his hips, and Jack can only groan back, because yeah, it is. Eric is taller than Jack like this, Jack eye level with the long pale column of Eric's neck. Jack wants to mess him up, and the thought that he can startles him into action, licking and sucking and biting.

Bitty's non-stop chatter carries over to here too. Jack doesn't need to stop or ask if Eric likes it, if he wants to keep going because with his mouth free Eric's regaling Jack with how good this is. Eric's breath is hot in Jack's ear with a constant stream of praise, interspersed with Jack's name in a breathy southern drawl.

Jack doesn't need to ask if it's okay when he moves his hands from Eric's ass to the button of his jeans, because Eric's already telling him yes, yes, yes, Eric's hands tightening in Jack's hair before he makes himself let go. He pulls off Jack's t-shirt telling Jack how hot he is, his arms and his shoulders and his abs. Jack shrugs and Eric moves to undo Jack's pants.

It's all fast and fumbling from there, the whole night of being in Eric's space had him keyed up even when he thought he'd he'd be going across the hall, frustrated and alone. But he's not. He undoes just enough buttons of Eric's shirt to pull it off over his head, and Their hands bump into each other as they jerk each other off, neither willing to move away from the other to give them the room they'd need to make this anything other than messy and fumbling. Eric comes first, barely, Jack tumbling over into orgasm as he watches Eric come.

That stops the chatter, the room suddenly quiet and Jack's labored breathing suddenly sounds echoingly loud as he catches his breath. He's warm where Eric is slumped against his front but the air in the room suddenly cold on his exposed back. He shivers. Eric must take that as a sign to sit up, pulling away from Jack.

"There are tissues," Eric says, twisting around to grab the box from his bedside table with his clean hand, dropping them on the bed next to Jack as he gets up. Jack uses them to clean himself up. Eric wipes himself down with the towel hanging off the back of his closet door. He moves to hand it back up before seemingly thinking better of it and depositing it in his hamper with the clothes he was wearing.

Jack can't help but watch Eric. There's nothing showy about how he moves around his room naked. In fact, Jack suspects it's a bit of the opposite, Eric keeping his back determinedly towards Jack as he pulls out fresh clothes from his dresser, bending over to pull on a fresh pair of boxer-briefs. And Eric still hasn't said anything. Jack's beginning to wonder if he's going to have to go back across the hall anyway. Jack shucks his jeans the rest of the way off, but he takes Eric's lead in pulling back on his t-shirt and underwear. "I can still stay, right?" Jack breaks, asking as Eric pulls a t-shirt on over his head.

"Oh, yes," Eric says, spinning around to finally look back at Jack again. Jack lies back in Eric's bed, hands reaching back so he can move Eric's pillows and get comfortable. Instead he finds something else.

"What's this?" Jack says, pulling out a little, brown, stuffed rabbit from where it had been stuffed under Eric's pillows.

"Give me Señior Bunny," Eric says, lunging at Jack, landing back on top of him on the bed, making a grab for the stuffed animal.

Jack doesn't relinquish the bunny. Instead he turns it, so that he's holding the stuffed animal so it's facing him. "Hola, Señior Bunny. I'm Jack," Jack says. 

Eric laughs at him and curls into Jack's side, reaching for the bunny. "Jack," Bitty says, "come on." But Jack moves too quick for Bitty, holding the bunny up in the air so Bitty can't reach, or well, it would be really easy for Eric to reach, he'd just have to get up, break content. When Eric doesn't move, Jack keeps talking.

"What's that?" Jack says and he holds Señior Bunny against his ear, on the opposite side from where Eric is.

"You're ridiculous," Eric huffs, rolling on top of Jack to grab at the stuffed animal once and for all. This time when Eric grabs for the bunny Jack lets him go. Eric is lying on top of Jack, propped up so he can look down at Jack. Jack likes looking up at Eric.

"I don't think Señior Bunny likes me," Jack says.

"Señior Bunny likes you just fine," Eric says, laughing.

"No," Jack insists, "I'm usurping his place in your bed."

"I think Señior Bunny has seen me through a lot and just wants me to be happy," Eric says. He turns to stuff Señior Bunny into the space between the mattress and the wall.

Jack's glad that Eric's turned away, because he's not sure he'd have the courage to ask otherwise. "And I make you happy?"

"Yes."

Jack feels like he should say something profound in response. Something meaningful. Something that's not a talking stuffed animal joke. That's Eric saying that he's happy with Jack. Jack has no idea what to say. Instead he leans up and kisses Eric.

This leads to them making out. It's different from earlier, slow and lazy and not leading anywhere. Jack likes it. He would stay in this moment pretty much forever if that were an option. But then he yawns. "Sorry," he says. He's not sure what time it is, but it's been a long day. Every day is a long day.

"Am I boring you?" Eric teases. His smile is even more entrancing this up close, and he has freckles across the bridge of his nose that Jack had never noticed.

"No," Jack says. "Of course not."

"It's okay, we can sleep," Eric says, rolling off of Jack, and settling into the space next to him on the bed. When Jack doesn't move with him, Eric takes his hand and tugs Jack's arm around him. "Okay?"

"Yeah," Jack says, closing his eyes. He would have fallen asleep with Eric on top of him, distracting him with kisses, but now that he's trying to sleep his thoughts get louder.

Jack was never supposed to be at Samwell. It was supposed to be him making the best of a bad situation. But that's not what the reality turned out to be. The truth is, he doesn't want to leave. Jack doesn't want to leave his room to one of the frogs because it's _his_ room. And this haus is his home, these people his family. He doesn't want to leave for the NHL hand loose touch with Shitty off at law school. He wants to go to sleep with Eric just like this every night. 

Jack nudges Eric. "This is a thing, right?" he whispers in the dark.

"Wha?" Eric asks voice slurred and accent thick in his half-asleep state.

"Us," Jack says, "this. It's not just the party, right? You'll still want this tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"And what about in three months?" Three months is after graduation.

"I can't tell the future, Jack." The bed shifts as Eric turns to look at Jack in the dark. "But for what it's worth, I wanted this three months ago." 

"I-" Jack cuts off. He doesn't know what answer he's looking for. It's just- "you make me happy too. I didn't say before, but you do."

"Go to sleep Jack," Bitty says. So Jack does.

**Author's Note:**

> These are the cookies Bitty makes: http://www.notmartha.org/archives/2009/12/18/a-gingerbread-house-that-perches-on-the-rim-of-your-mug/


End file.
